The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing awards to players of skill games, and more particularly, to systems and methods for providing awards to players of skill games where the awards are selected, based upon various factors, prior to playing the skill game.
Casino gaming has offered games of chance that can be played upon a machine for many years. Generally and typically said gaming machines employ some method of randomly selecting a game result and presenting it to a player. In the U.S.A. a distinction has been made at the level of the Federal Government as to whether a gaming apparatus generates game outcomes based upon a random selection or whether player skill can influence game outcome to some degree. Games that depend solely upon random selection for generation of game outcomes are classified as Class III and those in which player skill can influence game outcome may be classified as Class II. Said classification is a regulatory matter, but can have very significant economic ramifications. For example, Class III gaming may be relegated to casinos and Indian Tribes that have suitable compacts with state governments. Class III gaming is highly regulated and requires large economic resources in order to comply with regulations in operation and reporting. Class II gaming is, however, currently permitted upon any Indian reservation whether or not an agreement exists with the state in which they are located and reporting and compliance with regulation is considerably simplified.
Skill games may be classified as Class II games, but award to a player must depend to some degree upon player skill. A significant risk to an operator exists if game outcome depends entirely upon player skill as a very skillful player can win every game with disastrous economic results for the operator. If game outcome is made to depend upon skill in such manner that skill level is beyond the bounds of normal human competence then said game outcome essentially becomes a process of random selection, the game is classified as Class III, and is not permitted to be legally operated in a Class II venue. The aforesaid is very important and has been the subject of many court actions.
Several gaming machines that allow skill games to be played currently exist. Most of said gaming machines depend upon a video representation of a spinning reel and require a player to stop certain symbols at a given position in order to accomplish a winning result. The aforesaid method depends upon player skill to influence a game outcome, but in nearly all cases number of symbols is huge and/or speed at which symbols are presented to a player is much greater than can be expected to be processed within even the boundaries of superhuman capabilities. If game outcome can be influenced by normal human capabilities the operator of said game is in danger of losing money. Unfortunately the outcome of a game that uses aforesaid method is more or less a random process and the operator of said game is violating Class II statutes.
A considerable market exists in the U.S. for a method of implementing a Class II gaming device that allows an operator to maintain a profit and player skill to significantly influence award to a player.